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I employ 7 people and I can tell you that will not hold up in a court of law. Ever. They have a right to protect themselves from you leaving and starting your own business and then taking their customers but then they would need those customers to testify on their behalf. You would have to cause serious damage to a company for them to bother going after you.

I saw it happen 1 guy left and started stealing customers when he opened his own shop. Not a good thing but his old boss tried to sue for the noncompete. got real ugly the old boss spent lots of money on it and several of his other tech left as it made him look petty. Both old boss and new guy were out of business in 2 years my guess the lawyers got it all. So it may not be legal but it will cost you to prove it.

It seems to me that the object of the game is the next paycheck, and if I have to sign an insignificant scare tactic to get at it, I probably would. If circumstances suddenly changed for whatever reason, the object of the game remains the same, and at that time I would do WHATEVER is necessary to keep winning. All the new licensing and certification requirements were, at their time of significance, just the next hurdle in the game. I see this as that. But that is my opinion, and I am not in your shoes. These rules were created by people who run their world from behind a desk. What goes on in the field is completely up to us. We are the geese that crap the golden turds.

[...] Also, for a period of 1 year following termination for any reason, [...] not engage in any services that are competative with [BigNameCo] on behalf of [any other business] in the following territories: 1) Any state in the United States in which Employee performed work for or on behalf of [BigNameCo], or provided products or services at anytime during the preceeding 6 months [...].

That line would stop me from working in 2 or 3 states, right now, as far as I can tell.

A friend of mine signed a very similar agreement when he came to work at a supply house I was also working at. After two years he quit when he received a very lucrative offer to go work for a manufacturer's rep. Supply house tried to enforce the non-compete and was told that it wasn't legal because it was so broadly worded that it would've prevented him from doing any HVAC job anywhere for two years. They lost. He didn't even poach customers, but left on bad terms and they were petty. I have been presented these before and flatly refused to sign. One boss threatened to fire me if I didn't, I told him to piss off and he dropped it (I later quit as I was upset with the increasingly greedy nature of the company).

Statements made by me are strictly my opinions and do not reflect the opinions of my employer. I am not authorized to make any official statements on behalf of my employer.
Any technical advice offered by me is for educational purposes only, all HVAC related repairs should only be attempted by qualified personnel.

don't sign it. if they ask about it tell them you are having your attorney look at it. I would most definitely get a legal opinion before I signed it. 20 years ago it would not be an issue, but now a day It's hard to trust people. who knows, they may forget about it anyway.